Obstacles and setbacks are an unavoidable feature of working in the L&D arena.
Obstacles and setbacks are an unavoidable feature of working in the L&D arena.But, its an L&D leader’s ability to tackle these challenges head on which really matters.
Resilient organisations that can continually develop articulate solutions to the recurring L&D challenges will gain that edge.
The 2017 Workplace Learning Report clearly outlines the key challenges being faced by L&D professionals.
Unsurprisingly, ‘a limited budget’ was a top concern, followed by ‘getting employees to make time for L&D’, then, ‘having a small L&D Team’ and finally, ‘demonstrating ROI’.
The researchers proposed that these top challenges are most likely arising because L&D is not clearly proving ROI, which they themselves admit is not easy to do.
Being able to conclusively prove and measure what learning has occurred due to investment in learning is a difficult task.
This is why we thought it useful to highlight some of the tactics that leading L&D professionals are using today to prove business impact.
L&D industry leader and LinkedIn Learning author Dr. Britt Andreatta recommends a paradigm shift, proposing that L&D professionals should abandon the role of “service provider” and work more like consultants partnering with leaders and managers to address the root causes.
Use data that demonstrates financial impact (e.g. cost of employee attrition and disengagement) to show value and build credibility for your proposed interventions and use data to show how learners and the business benefit from learning.
This will build your reputation, lowering the barrier to entry for future projects.
Dr Britt also recommends applying the ‘Griener Curve’ model which outlines 6 growing pains that a growing company goes through.
By identifying which phase a company is approaching, a L&D professional can anticipate business needs and be ready with the right learning interventions.
(use this exercise file to identify where you organisation is on the Greiner Curve)
Todd Dewett, another industry expert all to often sees an off-the-shelf approach to learning which leads to expensive training mismatches, harming the ROI of the intervention.
He offers a set of consultative questions that L&D professionals can use with functional leaders to help develop learning interventions that are more closely tailored to the root need.
For more insights in to how modern L&D professionals are tackling top challenges read the full 2017 Workplace Learning Report.
If you’re ready to level up your L&D strategy with the help of an eLearning company, get in touch with us today!
